The service can still be a misery, but at least Penn Station commuters have a better stationscape.

The new West End Concourse for Penn, beneath the landmarked Farley Post Office on Eighth Ave., opened Thursday, surprising commuters who were used to entering the city in a dingy, confusing and cramped place.

“I didn’t believe that it would look this nice,” said John Honig, 42, who commutes an hour and a half from Ronkonkoma. “It’s clean and well-designed.”

The space is the first phase of a project to redevelop the post office into a train hall for LIRR and Amtrak passengers. The development, to be called Moynihan Station for the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.), is slated to open in 2020.

I walked through the new West End Concourse this morning on my way out of Penn. Unlike the rest of Penn, it's actually a nice, clean, open area with wide corridors, plenty of light streaming through and less of dungeon-like feel than much of Penn. Of course, like most MTA and LIRR facilities, signage is a problem - confusing and lacking in certain parts - but perhaps they will fix that in time.

I sent a suggestion to MTA that they add ticket machines for LIRR in the West End Concourse. Makes sense considering a ticket machine gives a captive audience and revenue to the MTA.

If enough of us send in the suggestion, they will have machines installed in the near future. One would have thought they would have prewired for communications and electrical when Skanksa built out the concourse,

I was waiting on this for awhile since having easier access at Penn Station was needed due to overcrowding and traffic flow to subway connections. Adding the ticket machines would be an added benefit that hopefully will come online soon.

geico wrote:They were in the process of installing ticket machines at the very top of the entrance from 8th/33rd as soon as you enter.

However there are no ticket machines in the WEC itself... which means people coming from the 8th ave subway or NJT have to make their way back to the other concourses.

I see. The entrance upstairs I presume is the Post office building door on the side which leads to the concourse downstairs. I gather they finished the project before the ticket machines could be added. Seens likely they will add more ticket machines after the new ones are installed inside the concourse itself due to the network design, ie placement of electrical and communications. So if they are in process of adding more machines, which I wasn't aware of in the upstairs portion, it is likely the whole area will get new machines and was probablt already in planning stages before I even submitted my suggestion. The machines also have cameras in them and security is also a consideration with the placement as well.

geico wrote:They were in the process of installing ticket machines at the very top of the entrance from 8th/33rd as soon as you enter.

However there are no ticket machines in the WEC itself... which means people coming from the 8th ave subway or NJT have to make their way back to the other concourses.

I see. The entrance upstairs I presume is the Post office building door on the side which leads to the concourse downstairs. I gather they finished the project before the ticket machines could be added. Seens likely they will add more ticket machines after the new ones are installed inside the concourse itself due to the network design, ie placement of electrical and communications. So if they are in process of adding more machines, which I wasn't aware of in the upstairs portion, it is likely the whole area will get new machines and was probablt already in planning stages before I even submitted my suggestion. The machines also have cameras in them and security is also a consideration with the placement as well.

I dont think so because the signage says go upstairs or back towards the exit concourse.

geico wrote:They were in the process of installing ticket machines at the very top of the entrance from 8th/33rd as soon as you enter.

However there are no ticket machines in the WEC itself... which means people coming from the 8th ave subway or NJT have to make their way back to the other concourses.

I see. The entrance upstairs I presume is the Post office building door on the side which leads to the concourse downstairs. I gather they finished the project before the ticket machines could be added. Seens likely they will add more ticket machines after the new ones are installed inside the concourse itself due to the network design, ie placement of electrical and communications. So if they are in process of adding more machines, which I wasn't aware of in the upstairs portion, it is likely the whole area will get new machines and was probablt already in planning stages before I even submitted my suggestion. The machines also have cameras in them and security is also a consideration with the placement as well.

I dont think so because the signage says go upstairs or back towards the exit concourse.

Have not seen any NJT machines on 5-12

NJ Transit machines won't be in the new concourse or upstairs at this point as the concourse is now for LIRR and Amtrak. Also no extention for Nj Transit only tracks either and all that is up in the air at this point. One shouldn't expect it, at least not for a long time if it even does happen.

However LIRR is in the concourse. It isn't hard to change signage. They likely didn't have ticket machines in place yet and wanted customers to know how to get to existing ticket machines. They could easily add new ticket machines and keep or replace signage.

It seems to make sense to have at least one ticket machine down there. Looks like there is enough space for it and no reason to keep people out of the concourse either.

http://lirr42.mta.info/stationInfo.php?id=8 shows existing locations of ticket machines including the new one by the upstairs of the concourse. They will obviously monitor usage flow of ticket purchases at the new concourse and I predict additional machines will be added in the next few months as they determine if people wil use them. The MTA has added ticket machines in additional areas in stations over the years.